Do you still have your old digital Kodak camera from when you were a kid? If yes, this is your lucky day: Celebs like Bella Hadid, Devon Lee Carlson, and more are making 2000s digital cameras a trend on Instagram and TikTok, proving that the Y2K aesthetic hype isn’t over, even as we’ve moved into 2023.
If you thought Y2K was on its way out, this trend resurgence might have you thinking twice. It was only a matter of time, after all, before we took our love for the Y2K aesthetic to another level — beyond fashion. Both Hadid and Carlson have posted photos taken on vintage digital cameras on their Instagram profiles: Hadid recently used hers to take a selfie right out of 2006, and Carlson also joined in on the digital camera fun with some overexposed digital photos. If it’s up to them to decide, vintage digital cameras are back for good, and I’m not complaining about it.
Even after disposable and film cameras had their moment in recent years, in which every celebrity and influencer (and I bet even your college friends) were experimenting with film and wearing disposable cameras around their necks, it seems like we’re looking for a different, more recent type of nostalgia right now.
Hadid and Carlson aren’t the only celebrities playing around with digital cameras, either. In their report on the Gen Z trend, The New York Times pointed to tastemakers Charli D’Amelio and Kylie Jenner as other celebrity examples, in case you needed more convincing. Dua Lipa, Matilda Djerf, and Emma Chamberlain also have some posts from recent months that look like they were taken on digital cameras. If that’s still not enough, how about TikTok? Search “digital camera” and you’ll find a ton of Gen Zers showing off the photos they’ve taken on their digital cameras, plus tips for getting the best shots.
But why should you consider looking for your old Kodak digital cameras in the attic, or in your junk drawer? First of all, you might not even have to buy anything new to join in on this trend. With the film cameras trend, so many of us were looking for our parents and grandparents’ old cameras — some of us succeeded, others not so much, since it had been a while since those film cameras were used. But with digital cameras, I, for example, still have my pink, 2000s camera I used to take with me everywhere, from school trips to family gatherings. You also won’t spend money buying a roll of film, and you won’t have to pay to develop your negatives. Sounds like a budget-friendly hobby, am I right?
Another great pro is that you can take as many photos as you want in a digital camera, and, even better, delete the photos you don’t like. I know this is part of the charm of a film camera — you never know what the photo is going to look like — but you have to admit it can get a bit annoying. On TikTok, @jax.davies compared her good film photos to her not-so-good ones to prove that film can sometimes betray you, and your dreamy summer vacation photos can turn out looking like excerpts from a crime documentary. Trust me, a digital camera would never do that to you.
I still have so much love for film photos, but TikTok has definitely convinced me that my old, very pink, 2000s digital camera is the coolest thing I could be shooting right now. Waste no time, go look for your old Kodak, and let’s all post outfit photos on Instagram with our trusty childhood cameras.